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Year 8 - English

Writing a full descriptive piece: 'The Execution of Lady Jane Grey' as stimulus

Myths, legends and stories that inspire

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils read and explore a range of text types in connection to classical myths and legends. They first look at poetry before doing some descriptive writing inspired by poetry and paintings. They then explore Chaucer and modern retellings of myths to inspire their narrative writing.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to write a well-structured and developed piece of descriptive writing inspired by the painting, 'The Execution of Lady Jane Grey'.

Key Notes

  • In descriptive writing, sometimes developing the description of small details can be very engaging.
  • To structure your piece, you could link the concluding sentence of paragraphs to the next topic sentence.
  • To structure your piece, your first and final paragraph could repeat selected ideas or images.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • third person omniscient: the narrator isn't a character in the story and presents the feelings and experiences of multiple characters using pronouns like 'she', 'he', 'they', 'it'
  • sumptuous: expensive looking, luxurious, rich
  • ensnared: caught in, usually some sort of trap
  • suppress: of an emotion, to keep it hidden or bottled up

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Once you have used an image or idea in a piece of writing, you can't reuse it in the same piece.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.

In descriptive writing, sometimes developing the description of small details can be very engaging. To structure your piece, you could link the concluding sentence of paragraphs to the next topic sentence.

2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'third person omniscient'

the narrator isn't a character in the story and presents the feelings and experiences of multiple characters using pronouns like 'she', 'he', 'they', 'it'.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

Mistake: Once you have used an image or idea in a piece of writing, you can't reuse it in the same piece. Correction: Sometimes repeating an idea or image throughout a piece can help give it a sense of structure. You might change certain details, but you can repeat them.

More Lessons In This Unit

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